Centriole

//ˈsɛntɹɪˌəʊl// noun

noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    A barrel-shaped microtubule structure found in most animal cells, important in the process of mitosis (nuclear division).

    "The aster is at this period closely similar to those of Ascaris at certain periods, as figured by Boveri, and the red mass with its central group of granules corresponds exactly, I think, to Boveri's "centrosome" with its "Centralkorn" or "centriole" ("centrosphere" with its "centrosome" in Strasburger's terminology)."

  2. 2
    one of a pair of small cylindrical cell organelles near the nucleus in animal cells; composed of nine triplet microtubules and form the asters during mitosis wordnet

Example

More examples

"The aster is at this period closely similar to those of Ascaris at certain periods, as figured by Boveri, and the red mass with its central group of granules corresponds exactly, I think, to Boveri's "centrosome" with its "Centralkorn" or "centriole" ("centrosphere" with its "centrosome" in Strasburger's terminology)."

Etymology

From Latin centriolum, diminutive of centrum. English equivalent centri- + -ole.

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.